Strokin’ seniors and I mean that in a good way

Before going to bed last night, Karen found online that the Kihei Canoe Club offers a visitors paddling program.  We decided that if we were up by 6:30am, we would go and check it out.

Here is the Kihei Canoe Club’s mission statement from their website … “The mission of the Kihei Canoe Club is to revive, develop, perpetuate and promote the Hawaiian traditions.  This will be accomplished through educational, recreational, cultural and competitive Hawaiian outrigger canoeing programs for youth and adults, in a safe, healthy and nurturing envirnoment.”

We got to the club just after 7am after a longer than expected walk.  The first thing that we noticed is that all of the club members were seniors.  Once everyone was signed up, we were given instructions on how to get in and out of the canoe and how to properly paddle.  My worry was was I going to be able to get in and out of the canoe since I am sure my butt is wider than the canoe.

After our instructions, we all gathered around the canoes and started with the blowing of the conch shell to each of the four corners of the earth.  This was followed by E Ala E which is a traditional chant to welcome the rising sun.  We got to our canoe and proceeded to launch it into the water.  Lucky for us, we got ourselves into the canoe without any injury.

We spent just over an hour in the waters around Kihei.  We would paddle for about ten minutes and then we would take a quick break.  All I can say is that I was sure thankful for those breaks because those seniors sure can paddle.  We were lucky enough to see sea turtles and one giant one even swam under us.  The landing back on shore went just as smoothly as the launch.  Since we worked up a sweat, we headed back to the condo for a quick dip in the pool before spending the rest of the morning lounging beachside.  We had lunch at Kihei Cafe based on a recommendation from one of the club members.

We spent the afternoon touring to various spots on the island.  We headed back to Makawao where we stunned to find that Komodo Bakery was open and even had cream puffs left.  Then we headed over to Ho’okipa Beach to check out the surfers.  On the way back to the condo, we decided that we would have a BBQ dinner.  Nothing beats barbecuing next to the ocean and then enjoying it beachside.  After dinner, we headed back to Lahaina were we did some shopping.

P.S. … to see the canoeing pictures, check them out under Karen’s Facebook.